Which to use
“Passes” is a noun and “passte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,401
- “Passes” frequency rank
- #10,719
- “passte” frequency rank
- 54120
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Passes | passte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Pass | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs passen |
Where the eye mixes Passes and passte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Passes vs passte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Passes is [ˈpasəs] while passte is [ˈpastə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Passes is recorded at frequency rank #43,401, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasəs]. passte is at rank #10,719, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpastə].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 54120, this pair ranks #1,031,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Passes vs passte
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "Passes": -. Private to "passte": t.
"Passes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "passte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Passes" and "passte" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Passes" or "passte"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Passes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,031,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Passes" and "passte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Passes vs Präses". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,031,295 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.